I’m told the Energy Minister, Craig Leonard, is one of the brightest lights in the Alward Cabinet. The strange, almost weird, language used in this article makes me wonder. It is possible the journalist misquoted him or the words got…
Continue ReadingIs everyone in New Brunswick on Facebook?
This guy says that 418,700 New Brunswickers are on Facebook. I will be interested to see his methodology when the report comes out. There are about 750,000 New Brunswickers but 73,000 of them are nine years old and under.…
Continue ReadingWhat the frack?
After I spoke on CBC Info Morning last week about shale gas development in New Brunswick I got a few emails – a couple in agreement with my view and a couple opposed. One guy from Nova Scotia sent me…
Continue ReadingAlward’s economic development dilemma
I met NS Premier Darrell Dexter this week for the first time. He seems to be one of those politicians operating at a speed just a little faster than the rest of us – energetic and fully engaged. In…
Continue ReadingEqualization in Harperland
I think I might have mentioned one time that I have a Google Alert set up for the word ‘equalization’ and I get an email on a daily basis showing references to articles, reports, etc. with this key word. …
Continue ReadingA different kind of spin
I am involved in an increasing number of economic impact studies and I am clear with clients that there is a huge difference between projects that increase economic activity and those that just recycle it. An economist once joked that…
Continue ReadingAre we a drive through province for creativity too?
Despite the newishness of the provincial and now federal governments, I sense a subterranean melancholy among a lot of folks involved in the development of this province. I talked with another old timer recently who suggested that New Brunswick’s only competitive advantage…
Continue ReadingThe pen is mightier than the voice?
The migration from voice communications back to text-based communications is pretty amazing. 150 years ago virtually all communications of any distance (beyond shouting) was done by the written word. Even 50 years, most customer service, any kind of formal business…
Continue ReadingAvoiding the fire sale
I dip my toe into the economic development incentives pool in my column this morning. This tends to be a subject that gets people worked up. There is a group of folks that deeply oppose any kind of government ‘incentives’…
Continue ReadingMcGuinty’s green dilemma
I was talking with a friend in Ontario who tells me that McGuinty’s green energy agenda is going to be a wedge issue in the Ontario election. The Tory leader is promising to scrap the deal with the ‘foreigners’ Samsung…
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